Dr. Si's Curse of the Crimson Throne - Seven Days to the Grave

[Maidhc O Casain]

OOC: No more kid gloves? The fights have been fairly easy, especially for a Paizo adventure, but now I'm a little scared. Manachan's a far cry from an optimized character . Oh, well - spice of life and all that. Should be fun!

 

[Dr Simon]

OOC: I think, also, that the house rule of adding your CON to starting hit points makes things a lot less deadly at low levels, but now at, what, 6th? they become slightly less significant, so the earlier combats were perhaps statistically more survivable. But that's why I like that rule, it front-loads without making characters over-powerful later on, also means that you can use more interesting foes at 1st level than the same old kobolds and dire rats (not that I had anything to do with this particular adventure).

I wouldn't worry too much about optimisation - sometimes the oddball characters can throw a curve to adventure designers.

 

[Kaodi]

[sblock=OOC]7 hp, eh? Really thought it might have had 30 or 40 left in it; I was not counting. I guess things add up though. Anyway, now that I have spent some some adding things up. Ignatius has two 2nd level spells and one 3rd level spell left (and three 1st level spells, after all these CLW). As you did not roll for the damage healed on the CMW, I took the liberty to use the d20srd.org roller as well, and these are the results I got:
2d8+6
8,5+6 = 19 (Mhairi)
1d8+5
4+5 = 9 (Ignatius)
1d8+5
4+5 = 9 (Mhairi)
1d8+5
5+5 = 10 (Edmond)
1d8+5
6+5 = 11 (Mhairi)
1d8+5
6+5 = 11 (Mhairi)
[/sblock]

The ifrit oracle is not very stingy with his healing magic in the aftermath of the fight, and by the time he is done with his work he and Edmond appear to only have some superficial wounds, and Mhairi appears to be completely unharmed. There is, unfortunately, nothing he can do for the trauma of being swarmed by unholy flies, clawed by a fiend from the lower realms, and almost dying, so fixing the wounds of the flesh will have to do.

"We must make haste and root out what evil remains in this place," says Ignatius in a steely voice. "While I suspect it may have taken them considerable resources to obtain and contain that creature, as well as animate those priests, we cannot give them more time to prepare any new surprises." Surveying the blackened husks he left with his fire magic, he regrets that it could be more difficult now to prove that Rolth ware here.

 

[Axel]

Mhairi

Mhairi sat around on the floor, not saying anything after the demon's abrupt departure. Even as Ignatius tended to her more obvious wounds. As he finished she stood and offered a hug to the ifrit. "No strings, just a thank you," she added by way of explanation.

Retrieving her weapons from the doorway (and returning Manachan's cool looking dagger), she asked the question bugging her most. "Alright guys. Answer me this. Why are we down here crawling through tunnels? Let's be a bit smarter - why can't we just burn the entire place down, or flood it with water or something? This is going to get us all killed. And then zombified. Whatever jewels and gold they have hiding around isn't worth that risk..."

[sblock=ooc]
7 HP eh? I wouldn't have believed it, although we gave it a pretty good hiding. Damage output of the party is quite high, even with the Oracle working as a heal-bot. And we had a good battle-map setup. Also, have to say, if two out of three affected PCs hadn't fluffed their opening Reflex save we should've/would've pounded the demon into the Celestial realm. Would've freed Iggy to do hurty fire stuff at the very least.

I do think we need to work on our "resistance" side of things though. Improve saves, DR and AC. Or use terrain better, though that's challenging in a 'dungeon'. If I remember rightly, Mhairi's AC (at 18) is as good as, or better, than the rest of the party. Having played many rogues through 3.5, I can tell you that it is quite a unique situation...
[/sblock]

 

[Kaodi]

Ignatius' acceptance of the hug is tentative at first, though he embraces the half-elf. When he takes a step back she can see the guilty expression on his face. "In truth you should be thanking Manachan," he says, looking towards his friend. "It was he who leaped into the fray to aid you, and who brought you back from the brink with his heavenly ray. I was preoccupied with keeping Edmond on his feet, for that seemed to me the best bet for putting the daemon down." His frown deepens. "A task we have not quite succeeded at, I suppose."

"Whatever else is in this place, we must at least ascertain whether the priestess the sick men spoke of is still here. She must have been responsible for the conjuration of the daemon, and if we destroy this place now we may kill her. Or, we may destroy her trail. I understand if you cannot go on. But the blessings that have been given to me are also a burden to bear: to not turn away when evil is afoot."

 

[Neurotic]

"Mhairri, that was very brave thing to do. Please be careful about going around things the rest of us cannot easily bypass." comments Edmond easily.

"I don't have any silversheen left, so we'll have some trouble if we encounter the beast again. Thank you, Ignatius, for the healing, that thing kicks like a horse."

"Next time, maybe Manachan and Mharri could exchange places after exchange with some hard to hit enemy? This one was quite hard to hit. Especially after that fly swarm. Anyhow, I will open with more spells next time, even through resistances, I should be able to add some hurt to it."

"As for WHY we are here, we're looking for anything that will prove that the doctors are corrupted, something that will hold in court even assuming the queen is knowingly in this. If people of Korvosa see irrefutable proof, we'll see more unrest and more open defiance against The Maidens. Now, it's only vigilante word against The Queen. Anyhow, we should let Marshal Kroft know of this. Let's see what our good nurse has to say, hmm?"

"Oh, and if anyone has some spell of purification - purify water maybe? - these vats are still stinking."

OOC: I didn't think we were so close, makes me regret using that one attack for dropping it instead of hitting with power attack and not using Shocking grasp even through resistances All in all, we had flanking for most of the combat and good tactics with healing main damage dealer. I'm a bit thin on attributes due to STR/INT/CON requirement, but it's somewhat offset by adding CON at 1st level

 

[Kaodi]

Ignatius attempts to use his purifying magic on the vats, though he has his doubts about whether it will work.

 

[Axel]

Mhairi

Not wanting Manachan to feel left out Mhairi offered him a hug too, and a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, then, Manachan, you gorgeous blonde thing you" she said with a smile.

"So, Ed, let me get this straight. We just need something convincing enough for a bunch of normal folks? They're all guilty as can be - that's plain as daylight. I...ummm....I might be able to...find something convincing looking enough if you can give me a day or two. And find some old looking parchment. That's got to be better than walking around Zombieland down here."

Still, Edmond had a point about the nurse. Mhairi left the other three to consider her offer and went to find the poor woman. Putting an arm over her shoulder - possibly overfamiliar, but the half-elf was way past caring about that (not that she ever had cared much to begin with). "Still think it's all a lie sweety?" she said. "Come have a good hard look," she added, propelling the nurse gently but firmly into the room.

 

[Dr Simon]

At first, it looks like the nurse is dead, perhaps caught by the cloud of daemonic flies. But instead she seems to have fainted. Once Mhairi brings her round and shows her the vat room, she still seems in a state of shock.

"But...," she burbles. "That thing... what? I don't understand. And you say the Doctor knew about this?"

 

[Kaodi]

"Yes, he did," says Ignatius plainly, looking up from his work at the vats. "I realize it is hard for you to believe strangers who have tied you and and dragged you around over the men you worked with, but Davaulus' alliance with Rolth and even more malignant forces is an unfortunate fact." Sparing a moment to look over the carnage again, he remarks, "We have slain Grey Maidens, Queen's Physicians, and Davaulus himself; actions punishable by death last I heard. Do you really think we would nearly kill ourselves fighting a fiend from another world to fool a nurse? There is no reason for you to believe that we would spare your life where we ended the others if we intended to cover up what we have done. And if we do not mean to end you, given the gravity of our actions, the only reasonable answer is that we are telling the truth, and that Davaulus was in fact a responsible party for the Blood Veil." With that the ifrit believes he has strained his wits and his tongue enough. If the nurse does not believe them now she probably never will.